Benghazi Suspect Captured by US Special Forces

The U.S. government has captured what it’s calling “a key figure” in the attacks two years ago on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, which killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

American military and law enforcement personnel operating in Libya captured Ahmed Abu Khatallah, who has secretly been indicted in the United States for his alleged role in the attacks.

Khattalah, who was captured on Sunday, is now in “a secure location outside of Libya,” and no civilians or U.S. personnel were harmed in the operation, according to a statement Tuesday from a Pentagon spokesman. One source said he is being held on a U.S. Navy ship in the Mediterranean.

Since the attack on Sept. 11, 2012, the Obama administration and top law enforcement officials have faced harsh criticism over the failure to capture anyone involved in the attack. Part of the criticism has focused on the fact that some reporters have been able to conduct in-person interviews with Khatallah and suspects, but the U.S. government had appeared unable to do the same.

Testifying before a House panel last week, FBI Director James Comey said he takes “the Benghazi matter very, very seriously,” and it is something the FBI has “made progress on.”

“One thing you got to know about the FBI, we never give up,” Comey added. “So sometimes things take longer than we'd like them to but they never go into an inactive bin.”